2 die in train's second collision in 1 day

By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN Associated Press Writer NEW ORLEANS — A southbound Amtrak train collided with a car in Louisiana on Wednesday, killing two people just an hour and a half after it injured the driver of another car in Mississippi. None of the 130 passengers and crew aboard the train was injured, an Amtrak spokesman said, in the accidents that followed one by a train on the same route less than two weeks ago. The identities of the two adults killed were not immediately released. The train traveling at about 79 miles per hour pushed the vehicle about 285 feet down the track near Independence, La., said Chief Dennis Pevey of the Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff's Office, citing witness accounts. He said the car apparently pulled in front of the train about 70 miles north of New Orleans. Passenger Ronnie Hall, 46, of Hot Springs,... [read full story]